What Do Coins Left On Military Headstones Mean?
Have you ever been in a military cemetery and saw coins laying on a headstone? Apparently there is a special meaning to the coins and I love the symbolism. Read more, so you can know what each coin means, and maybe as you visit a soldier's final resting place this Memorial Day, you can leave a coin to honor them too.
Have you ever been in a cemetery and saw coins laying on a tombstone? I've noticed this many times over the years and it was very prevalent at the Idaho's Veteran's Cemetery and
a few years ago, I set out to do some of my own research to find out why. There is apparently an actually a reason behind it.
This is what I was able to find out. A coin left on a grave's headstone lets the deceased soldier's family know that somebody visited to pay their respect and different coin denominations mean different things.
Leaving a penny means you visited. A nickel means that you and the deceased soldier trained at boot camp together. If you served with the soldier, you leave a dime. A quarter is very significant because it means that you were there when that soldier was killed.
So what happens to the coins after Memorial Day? They are collected and the money is then used for cemetery maintenance, the cost of burial for other soldiers who might not be able to pay for the costs of burial and for the care of indigent soldiers.
According to legend, the tradition became popular here in the United States during the Vietnam war. It is believed it was a way to show respect without getting into an uncomfortable political discussion about a war that was very controversial at the time.
According to snopes.com this is a legend, but I can attest that I myself have personally not only seen the practice of coins left on Military headstones but know people who actually do this on a regular basis, so in this particular case, Snopes is once again full of crap! And more and more people seem to be adopting this tradition, especially for Memorial day.
From everyone here at Mix 106, Thank you to all the military and their families who have sacrificed so much so that we are able to enjoy our freedom on this Memorial Day .